1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a modular area wall system and, more particularly, to an area wall system which is of a lightweight, modular, inexpensive construction, yet is sturdy and adaptable to projects of varying depths below grade.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art to provide area walls around windows located below grade. The walls provide for the ingress of light and the egress of persons in the event of a fire. Although poured concrete and masonry area walls are known in the art, the preferred method of protecting below-grade windows from backfill and the like is preformed, galvanized metal area walls having a generally C-shaped cross-section. Given the different depths of windows below grade, area walls of various sizes must be employed. Maintaining a large stock of area walls of various heights is not only expensive, but requires a very large amount of storage space.
To eliminate the need for keeping a large inventory of area walls of various heights in stock, it is known in the art to provide area wall assemblies. Shorter, modular units can be combined to construct area walls of various heights, using the desired plurality of standard sized units. The desired height may be accomplished by coupling the smaller modular units together, either at the factory or on site. One drawback associated with constructing the assemblies at the factory includes the unwieldiness associated with transporting a large area wall assembly to the jobsite. Another drawback is the inability to adjust the area wall on site and/or construct a replacement, should the original become damaged.
One drawback associated with constructing the area wall on sight includes the difficulty in aligning the sections while working below grade. Not only is it difficult to hold the sections in alignment while fastening them together, it is also difficult to avoid coupling the sections together at a cant, with one side having more overlap than the other. An additional drawback associated with constructing area walls on site is trying to align the holes of an attachment fin on one section with the holes of the attachment fin on the other section. Typically, the holes must be in line not only with each other, but also with a securement bar which, in turn, is later secured to the foundation of a building. The difficulty and time associated with making all of the appropriate alignments adds additional cost and delay to the area wall installation.
Another drawback associated with prior art area walls is the cost associated with providing customized corrugations and thicker panels to add strength to the area walls. While it would be desirable to use thinner standard sinusoidal corrugation for the area walls, which would not only be lighter but also cheaper, the difficulty encountered in the prior art heretofore has been that such standard corrugation material has been found to lack the requisite strength to adequately hold back the backfill from the window. It would be, therefore, desirable to provide an area wall of a lightweight, simple construction which also provided the necessary strength for retaining backfill from the window.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a modular area wall system which eliminated the need to maintain a large inventory of area walls of various sizes in stock. It would be desirable to provide a modular area wall system which could be constructed at the jobsite to avoid the unwieldiness associated with transporting a large area wall section, and which provides for quick replacement and/or construction of area walls of a desired height at the jobsite. It would also be desirable to provide a modular area wall system which is of an inexpensive lightweight, sturdy manufacture, and which avoids alignment problems associated with the prior art.
The difficulties encountered in the prior art discussed hereinabove are substantially eliminated by the present invention.